The nose is a study in aromas, loaded with raisins and dates. There are brief flashes of orange peel and sugar. After successive tipples, the nose turns to cinnamon-heavy orange candy. The palate begins without much sweetness, and reminds me of coffee, overly-diluted with milk. Oranges, honey, red grapes, and cinnamon appear on the mid-palate, before the heat delivers a finish of vermouth, bitter oranges, winter spices, and oak. The body here at 80 proof is a tad thin for my scotch and bourbon cask-strength conditioned palate. The nose reveals the 'Elegance' of this cognac's name, but the palate comes up a bit short. This is an example of a well-aged cognac - it's an XO afterall - where the length of maturation has blanched a degree of the fruitiness from it, a thing easily found in VS and VSOP stock (along with the ethanol rough notes). Still, the bottle design is attractive and accompanied by a thick screw cap made from dense glass (I mean, like David could've used it to defeat Goliath). I bought the gift box edition, where two copitas were included. Value wise, I don't begrudge this at all. But I may have to do a SBS with an XO from one of the big players (i.e. Courvoisier, Hennessy, Martell, or Rémy Martin) to know for certain.
About this bottle
Camus is a cognac-producing family that traces its roots in the business through five generations since 1863. The family owns several vineyards in Borderies, an area within Cognac, from which they produce wine to serve as the based for their spirits. Additionally, they source eaux-de-vie from all six areas within Cognac to provide variation and depth by creating a more diverse palette from which to blend. The XO Elegance is blended from eaux-de-vie sourced from around the Cognac region. The family utilizes different ambient moisture contents within its cellars to help the oaking process, moving the barrels selected for the XO Elegance from areas of relatively high moisture to drier areas as they get older. Bottled at 40% ABV.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 4 parsed reviews.
NOSE: Rich blood orange marmalade. Quite soft. Mild leather polish. Vanilla custard. Puff pastry. PALATE: Sweet orange jelly candies. Bitter red grapefruit. Very mild ginger spice. Finish is chocolate covered marzipan. OVERALL: Amazing vibrant ruby sunset color tones. Dazzling. Nose is rich but gentle. Palate is fruity but very dry. Makes for a lovely sipping cognac, not too powerful.
A rich, XO Elegance expression, Camus use eaux-de-vie from all of Cognac's six crus to craft a luxurious, impressive brandy. It opens floral with notes of rich dark fruit; the palate has notes of nut & oak; while the finish is long with notes of vanilla sweetness & brandied cherries, with hints of grape, hazelnut & rye for complexity. September 2017
Excellent. Very smooth. Received as a gift, it’s wonderful.
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